HIV/AIDS is still considered a myth in my village of Bouendé. A while ago I heard from a villager when asked how can someone become infected with HIV, "If you eat uncooked chicken." So yes, I instantly thought here is where I can do some work. Africa and HIV/AIDS are synonymous today and living there it is easy to see why.First and foremost is ignorance. Like my village friend who thinks you can get HIV from eating raw chicken. The average Burkinabé is ignorant to how are transmitted. She was correct that some diseases can be transmitted from uncooked foods just confused on which ones. This ignorance is not their fault and is an understandable problem. Around 75% of the Burkinabe are illiterate, that’s nation wide. In a village like mine it is closer to 95%. So it is very reasonable that people don’t understand disease transmission.
(The United Nations Development Program Report used to place Burkina Faso as the most illiterate country in the world, with only 12.8% in 1990. With the consistent effort of the government in making schooling more accessible and affordable, however, the literacy rate has doubled and is now at 25.3% of the population.)
So in summary most rural Africans don’t understand the diseases that plague them. Which is why AIDS in this example, is so dangerous. As I have said before, when someone asks how some one died, the common answer is that he was sick. Period.
Third, is the problem with testing. Very few people in Burkina are tested. People are ignorant to the treatments available and most think that the disease is fatal. So if you know you can die from it, don’t know of any treatments, and you are really poor, why would you even get tested. This is the greatest problem in Burkina. Most villagers are starting to learn about HIV but are not going to get tested. In some ways I can see their point, but the only way to decrease transmission is to know who has it.
So all those factors together in my tiny village I decided to start an HIV education program. I applied for a grant with the US Embassy, some money Bush has made available and was accepted. I organized a large AIDS day last month where we had theatre presentations, talks from local and American doctors, and movies on AIDS and the associated stigma. It went off with a great success. The national newspaper was there and a local radio station did interviews on the spot. It was really probably my biggest accomplishment as a health volunteer.
Here is a link to the newspaper article.
Here is a link to a recent article on the food crisis in Burkina.
As for me, I just got back from almost 3 weeks back home in the States. It was a nice vacation, but oddly it felt good to land back in Burkina Faso.
1 comment:
John I'm so proud of the work you're doing over there, you're really making the most of this peace corps opportunity. Incredible photos, too...keep us updated!
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